Holiday over, and it’s back to business as usual

It’s a more traditional morning skate today now that the Sharks’ six-day gap between games and holiday break is just about over. Ron Wilson used the extra time off mostly for conditioning work and having a little fun — like that geezers vs. kids scrimmage a couple days ago.

Today, there’s also enough players out there to set up four lines, plus a fifth with guys still nursing injuries. And, as promised, they’re out there working on the power play. Thornton, in fact, just set up Setoguchi who rifled the puck past back-up goalie Thomas Greiss.

Here are the line combinations on the ice:

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Michalek-Thornton-Setoguchi

Rissmiller-Marleau-Bernier

Mitchell-Roenick-Grier

Davison-Brown-Pavelski

Cheechoo, who has been resting a sore groin muscle until now, is out there skating with Goc and Plihal on that fifth line. I’ll try to find out the likelihood of #14 being in the lineup tomorrow night against Los Angeles at HP Pavilion.

All eight defensemen, Rivet included, are out there, but in so many different pairings that I won’t bother going into all that.

Bigger crowd watching the Sharks practice than usual. Part of that’s the fact it’s a day off from school. Most of it’s probably tied to the Silver Stick tournament being played on the other ice surfaces here at 10th and Alma.

Speaking of bigger crowds, that’ll be the case in the press box next Wednesday. The North American national hockey media is descening on Pebble Beach for the NHL board of governors meetings and a goodly number of writers plan to stop in at HP Pavilion first to check out the Sharks and Kings. Don’t be stunned to see a few Sharks-oriented stories showing up in the national media over the week that follows.

Quick note: The pink goalie mask that Greiss is wearing now — and has been wearing in the AHL this season — is being auctioned off as a fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge of Worcester. If you’re interested, go to www.sjsharks.com or www.nhl.com. Bidding ends Saturday, Nov. 30.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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I ran into (well almost over, I was in the parking lot ) Ryan…he was not a happy puppy. Knee brace in one hand, cane in the other. Has he hurt himself again, or is he still working through the original one?

Sharkie

I would like it if you would analyze games. You know, talk about what worked, what went wrong, what you think could have been done to fix the problem and also talk about the strength and weaknesses of individual players.

You don’t give as much detail as I would like. For example, which lines do you like and why? Just a list of the lines doesn’t tell me much.

George

Inflation – NHL style:
If you look at the Western Conference standings today, 11 of 15 teams have winning records. A 12th one (Phoenix) is 10-10.
How can that be?
The answer is obvious: an overtime or shoot-out win is a win, but an overtime or shoot-out loss is not a loss, and you still get a point.
A team like Columbus with 10 wins and 12 losses can still be marketed as over 0.500, because four of those losses came in shoot-outs. Anaheim, similarly, has 10 wins and 13 losses, but only 9 regulation losses.
Radio and TV announcers and sportswriters talk about these teams as having “winning records”.
Despite the fact that 8 of 15 teams make the play-offs, probably 3 or 4 of these “winning” teams will not.

David, do you have an opinion on the above? How do you handle it in your writings?

George

Continuing on the same topic:
In the entire NHL, only 3 of 30 teams have “ugly”
records: Los Angeles at 8-12, Edmonton at 8-13, Washington at 7-14.
Five others are only one or two games below this mythical 0.500.

gail

Ryane Clowe is expected to be out for months (like returning perhaps in late February) based on initial prognosis after surgery.